Read on below for the latest news from Champagne Jacquart and Champagne Montaudon’s Joëlle Weiss, Oenologue, Brand Ambassador.

Dear friends of Champagne Jacquart,

Precocity, timing, quality, and quantity : 4 adjectives summarizing 2022 and a harvest that has put a smile on the face of everyone in Champagne.

First, it was an early harvest. In the last 19th years, only 8 times were we able to harvest in August. 2022 was globally very sunny. July 2022, with 350 hours of sunshine, was a record for Champagne. It was very hot, with scorching peaks in July and early August, but some welcoming rain and some non-damaging storms punctuated the months of July and August, bringing the necessary water to the vines to restart the ripening.

Grapes were very healthy since they arrived at the press without the slightest bit of mildew, powdering mildew or rot. The degrees rose steadily throughout the harvest, and these high levels were accompanied by full aromatic development of the grapes. Finally, in the case of the red varieties, the dense bunches, with thick skins, had high levels of polyphenols and color pigments which also allowed to produce very beautiful reds – another characteristic for this year.

At the end of August, the criteria were quite similar for the three grape varieties, so much so that the opening dates for each village were the subject of a fire drill between August 25/27 and September 1.

Finally, with about ten bunches per square meter and an average weight of 140-145 g/cluster, Champagne has returned to good yields, which finally allows us to refill the reserves that had gotten hit so badly last year by the small harvest, and to look forward to the future with confidence.

At present, some vats are finishing their alcoholic fermentation (the last grapes were brought in on Thursday September 15th) and the others are in malolactic fermentation. The profiles seem clean, fruity, and straight, but all of this is still very fermentative and carbonated. We will begin tasting after racking the wines in the next few weeks. We can’t wait to see the outlines of this next vintage!

To your health,

Joëlle WEISS
Oenologue
Brand Ambassador

JACQUART & Associés Distribution
34 Boulevard Lundy
51100 Reims